01. April 2023 | Tobias Stahl
The metropolis of New York developed a heat pump to support financially weak people. The city government organized a competition in which a heat pump for tenants to install themselves emerged as the winner.
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In the future, alternatives to gas heating, which mostly run on renewable energies, are to be made more attractive for consumers. These include electric heat pumps, but not everyone can afford to install them. Added to this is the fact that tenants often do not have a say in the heating methods used.
Now an invention from the USA is supposed to help: In order to help the residents of social housing in New York City to be cool in summer and warm in winter, the metropolis known as the “Big Apple” started the “Clean Heat for All Challenge “, i.e. the “Clean Heat for All” competition.
Are you interested in heat pumps? On the heater finder you will receive concrete offers for your property from craft businesses in your area.
New York wants to have heat pumps installed for $70 million
The winners of the competition: Gradient and Midea America, a start-up company and an established company in the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) sector will receive $70 million. The two companies want to use these funds to produce 30,000 window heat pumps within seven years.
According to the news portal Protocol While the technology is still relatively new and hasn’t been tested on a large scale, the two companies believe the technology could solve a number of problems that often plague New York’s public housing tenants.
Many of these buildings only have outdated and unreliable heating systems and are poorly insulated. Many residents also don’t have access to the air conditioning systems typical of New York City because the cost of purchasing window units and the fees for professional installation and additional energy use required by the New York City Housing Authority are prohibitive. The all too common result: freezing in winter, sweating in summer.
Window heat pumps are said to be perfect for older buildings
Heat pumps installed in windows could be a step in the right direction. “Historically, NYCHA was [eine New Yorker Behörde, die die Sozialwohnungen unterhält, Anm. d. Red.] always lagging behind: lagging behind in technology, lagging behind in development, lagging behind in changes, lagging behind in repairs, lagging behind in funds coming out of Albany,” said New York Mayor Eric Adams as the installation began of heat pumps.” You are now the first. […] They are the first to use this new technology.”
Window heat pumps can both heat and cool efficiently, and New York City, with its many decades-old residential buildings, is the perfect testing ground for their use, Gradient CEO Vince Romanin told Protocol.
The idea could also catch on in the rest of the state
Although the Gradient and Midea America models are not yet completely ready for installation, they already meet the requirements of the competition, which, among other things, required a design that did not exist before. The units are affordable, compact, conform to existing cold climate specifications and require no building modifications. Both are also powered by the typical US 120-volt outlet.
On the Gradient website the heat pumps can be reserved for the window for USD 99, the final price is said to be USD 1,999. According to the manufacturer, delivery will take place in autumn.
Of the 30,000 window heat pumps that NYCHA intends to purchase in the coming years, 10,000 will come from Gradient and 20,000 from Midea. If everything works as planned, the window heat pumps could also be installed in other public housing units in upstate New York. Gradient plans to open its heat pump to the public in 2024 – NYCHA is said to be just the first and largest customer to date.
Also conceivable for Germany?
So far nothing is in sight for Germany, especially as it could be a challenge to put them on our windows. The radiator alone would have to be uninstalled first, not to mention the window locks. In principle, you can also build your own heat pumps that cool in summer and heat in winter – from a normal air conditioning system. The YouTuber Andreas Schmitz has already shown how it works, what it costs and what the most common problems are – EFAHRER.com reported on it.
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